Back in mid-June, we noted the President’s announcement of a $70 million National Robotics Initiative (NRI) — a multi-agency investment spanning the NSF, NIH, NASA, and U.S. Department of Agriculture — to fund major research advances enabling next-generation robotics. This morning, the White House announced that the Department of Defense is now supporting the NRI as well.

In a post on the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Blog, Tom Kalil, OSTP Deputy Director for Policy, and Chuck Thorpe, OSTP Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics, noted:

Today we are pleased to announce that the Department of Defense is also supporting the National Robotics Initiative through the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program. This $40 million program, supported by the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, strengthens the capability of universities to conduct research and educate scientists and engineers in areas that are important to national defense. The FY12 solicitation specifically encourages proposals for purchases of equipment that can support research in robotics, “given the continuing priority of that research area to a wide range of defense technologies and applications, including unmanned ground, air, sea and undersea vehicles and autonomous systems.”

 

This announcement is critical to the success of the National Robotics Initiative, given the role that equipment can play in enabling researchers to develop next-generation applications. We hope that the Defense Department’s investments will serve as a catalyst for additional partnerships between the robotic industry and the academic research community.

To learn more, read the full program announcement available here.

(Contributed by Erwin Gianchandani, CCC Director)